The tough-love Staten Island mom who publicly demanded that her grade-challenged son repeat the seventh grade should get an “F” in motherhood, says the woman’s estranged husband.

“A normal mother doesn’t do this, especially when she is a dropout of her own,” said Victor Raimo, 36, in a phone call from the Manhattan House of Detention where he is serving a six-month sentence for not paying child support.

“My son shouldn’t be embarrassed – it should be her,” he said.

The jailbird was talking about his estranged wife, Deanna Hassell, 34, who, as The Post reported Monday, wants Schools Chancellor Joel Klein to flunk their 13-year-old son Anthony.

The youngster finished the seventh grade at IS 51/Edwin Markham School with a 60.53 average and 55 absences.

But Anthony passed two standardized reading and math tests by the thinnest of margins, earning him a spot in the eighth grade – much to his mom’s shock.

Hassell demanded her son be left back so he won’t fall too far behind in the eighth grade and questioned how the school system could promote him on the basis of two tests.

School policy allows a failing student to move up if they pass the standardized tests – unless the principal directly intervenes.

“He missed 55 days of school. How did that happen?” asked Raimo, who acknowledged he only sees his son two or three times a year. “Why is she not being a mother?”

He further blasted his estranged wife’s very public plea to flunk their son, calling it “despicable” and charging that she “humiliated” their son just to get publicity for herself.

Hassell declined to discuss Raimo’s comments. Education advocates also weighed in, saying that Anthony’s plight is symptomatic of a school system with testing fever.

“The test results trump what the teachers are saying,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers. “A teacher will tell you if a child deserves to be promoted or not before he or she sees standardized test results.”